As a result of increasingly competitive markets for products and services, many businesses are allocating greater resources toward gathering customer input on products and services. These businesses are looking for feedback that can be used to develop new product features, improve the effectiveness of advertising, target new markets, and the like. One source for such feedback is the focus group—typically a group of eight to ten people under the direction of a moderator who solicits responses by asking questions. A car manufacturer, for example, might convene a group of ten car owners in order to talk with them about whether or not in-car Internet access would be a desirable new feature. The participants might meet in the conference room of a marketing research organization, and discuss the topics presented by the moderator for an hour. The participants are generally paid for their time, with compensation depending on the value of the participant. While consumers may receive up to $75.00 per session, executives or industry experts may command $150.00 or more for their time.
Although focus groups often provide a rich set of customer opinion, they also represent a considerable cost to most companies. Marketing research organizations conducting such sessions often charge fees ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the complexity and duration of the session. Such sessions can also present logistical challenges in getting appropriate participants in the same place at the same time, especially for focus groups requiring specialized participants. In some cases, participants may also require reimbursement of transportation costs—adding to the already burdensome costs. There are also costs associated with finding the participants, such as advertising expenditures in the local newspaper.
Some marketing research companies have attempted to mitigate such costs by conducting focus groups online. Greenfield Online of Westport, Conn., for example, has developed its own proprietary software, called FocusChat, which it uses to conduct focus group sessions over the Internet. The programs allow respondents to congregate in a virtual “room” and carry on a discussion under the guidance of a moderator. Clients, meanwhile, are able to observe the session and even send notes to the moderator, unnoticed by the group participants. Such online sessions reduce the need for physical facilities and eliminate transportation expenses, resulting in overall cost savings.
A major disadvantage of such focus groups, however, is the delayed nature of the payment to the participants. After completing a session, a user might have to wait a week or more for a check to arrive by mail, and then wait an additional few days for the check to clear. Such delays in payment tend to frustrate participants, and serve to discourage future focus group participation. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for conducting focus groups that is cost effective, efficient, and able to provide immediate compensation to participants.
In recent years, slot machines installed in United States casinos have generated greater than ten billion dollars of annual revenue. With individual machines typically earning between $50 and $150 per day, slot machines can account for the majority of a United States casino's overall profits. The net profit from slot machine play for a casino generally exceeds the profit from all other casino gaming activities.
The comparatively high profitability of slot machines may be attributed to many factors, such as the low operating cost of slot machines compared to table games, the ability of slot machines to conduct games at a faster play rate compared to table games, the appeal of slot machines to players of every skill level, and the large potential payout offered by slot machines in exchange for a comparatively small wager.
Since the profitability of slot machines is directly proportional to the amount of time that they are played, casinos often attempt to prolong the length of player gambling sessions. Casino slot clubs were developed with just such a goal in mind. Players were provided reward points for each dollar wagered, with points exchangeable for cash, merchandise, food, etc. Much like an airline frequent flyer mile system, slot clubs encouraged greater play since the player would earn larger reward point totals. Although these programs succeeded in providing an incentive to play more, players had no incentive to extend the length of a given gambling session since they could always pick up where they left off at a later session. Three sessions of one hour each were thus equivalent to one session of three hours. Every time that a player ended a gambling session, however, there was a risk that he would go to another casino. For this reason, casinos would prefer that a player play for extended periods of time rather than over multiple sessions.
One method that has been used to motivate increased play of slot machines is to generate bonus payouts dependent on cumulative effects of plays. For example, several reel slot machines manufactured by International Game Technology (“IGT”) provide bonuses for the cumulative effects of spins. The game “Red. White and Blue Racing 7s” is representative of such games, featuring a race based on a number of reel symbols obtained within a given time period. The three colors of the reel symbol “7” appear on the reels with different frequencies. When a “7” comes up on a reel, a racing character “7” of the same color advances on an animated track. When a racing character crosses the finish line, the player receives a bonus, with higher bonuses for the symbol colors of lower frequency.
In another example of a cumulative bonus symbol type of game, AC Coin & Slot Service Company developed a series of games in which there was a time period during which a player attempted to accumulate a number of reel symbol outcomes. Three bonus payouts were provided at ten, fifteen and twenty-five coins, respectively. Each reel of the slot machine included one or more special symbols, the occurrence of which advanced the player closer to one of the three bonus levels. Upon the completion of a one-hundred second time period, the bonus session ended and the player result (i.e. the number of special reel symbols accumulated) was compared to the totals required to obtain each bonus level. Any bonus earned was paid out, and any accumulated special reel symbols were then zeroed out.
Slot machine racing games, such as the Red. White and Blue Racing 7s and bonus symbol games of AC Coin encourage an extended length gaming session in that the player does not want to end a session while he is still competing for the bonus payouts. However, the excitement and the motivation last only for the limited period of the race which cannot be extended indefinitely by the casino. When the race ends, all player investment in the racing aspects of the game are lost, and the player may be motivated to cease play and search for another game.
Accordingly, a need exists for a slot machine which provides the player with an incentive to stay with the machine for longer periods of time.